Dark Justice
by Shirae Natrice
Summary: The Titans gain two new members... but lose one of their own when Slade returns to the front-lines. Grief, fighting crime and the personal questions the Echo Twins force the Titans to ask themselves... Will they crumble or stand victorious?  -abandoned
1. Prelude

This story will get dark, at times intense, and there will be swearing & mention of alcohol abuse (underage)... I will rate it T since I will be trying to keep it as tame as I can within the story I create... If the FFnet staff wants me to make it an M rate, I will, but I prefer a T since everyone can find it that way. There will be out of character moments, but thats to be expected in the circumstances they will happen... And not all opinions expressed are my own, my opinions ARE contained and not always voiced by the same Titan. The quotes from "Chanson's Book" are actually from MY original novel. Enjoy my final work under the pen name Shirae Natrice.

PS. Chanson is french for song. this is also the year after the Series Finale.

**DARK JUSTICE**

PRELUDE

The cold autumn wind whistled outside the window as Beastboy sat on the couch, his feet up on the table as he flipped through the channels of the tv. "Maaaannn," he complained to the empty room, "there's nothing good on!" He stopped when he saw a music video he recognized beginning, "SWEET! The Echo Twins!"

Two jet black haired girls stood leaning against each others' back with their eyes closed as they sang a sorrowful requiem to a broken heart. Their black attire suggested they were crushed by the discovery of the cheating boyfriend the song mentioned. As the sorrowful music cresendoed at the end of the intro, the sound of a record skipping stopped everything. The girls snapped their heterochromatic eyes open, revealing they both had one blue eye and one green. "NOT!" they both sang in a taunting tone as they grasped the shoulders of their black dresses and threw them away to reveal the sulrty, tight, and revealing red spandex tops and daisy-dukes underneath. The music tuned to a party beat with a strong guitar riff to accompany it and they girls began moving as no lady under the age of 18 ever should, despite the fact they were only 16.

Beastboy sat there, trying not to drool over himself as he watched the two girls singing about how free they felt now that the truth was known and they could party with anyone they wanted. "Dude! Syren and Chanson are SOOOOO hot!" He'd seen the two in interviews before, and wondered if he'd prefer to date the more energetic Syren, or if the more gentle Chanson would be more to his liking. Although it barely mattered, the girls had disappeared four months ago, after Chanson experienced the worst possible thing to happen to a woman, especially one her age. Beastboy angrily wondered how anybody could ever bring themselves to force someone as gentle as Chanson; let alone to hold Syren at gunpoint to prevent the other girl from struggling, scarring both girls at the same time.

The "PROXIMITY ALERT" forced him from his dark wonderings. He ran over to the computers and saw that the intruders were on the rocky edge of Titan's Island and not moving. Robin arrived first, "Where are they coming from?"

"They aren't coming at all," Beastboy hit the button to bring up the camera-feed as the other three came rushing through the door.

Recognizing that one of them was trying to drag the other out of the water, Cyborg began running for the door, "they need our help!"

"Come friends!" Starfire followed after quickly.

"We got her," Robin placed an assuring hand on the shoulder of the dark haired figure trying to drag another dark haired girl onto the island.

The girl screamed and scrambled away from Robin's touch as if he could kill her merely through contact.

The previously unconcious girl snapped to life in response to the scream and grabbed Robin by the throat, "don't touch my sister!"

The Titans reacted by prepping their powers, only to have Robin wave them off. "I... didn't mean... anything... by it," he choked out.

She released him without a word and strode over to the now cowering form of the other girl.

With the rush of the moment over, Beastboy recognized the girls who were before him. "I don't believe it!" He ran over to them to offer a hand. He found himself blown away by a wave of soninc energy as the fearful of the girls screamed again.

The second girl forced her hand, with very obvious effort over the other's mouth. The sonic blast stopped, "Shhhh, Chanson..." She removed her hand and craddled Chanson's head to her chest, "It's ok, they aren't going to hurt us."

"But... Syren..." Chanson's arguement was silenced as she looked over at Beastboy with fear.

"Wait..." Robin recognized the names and connected them with the apperance of the girls before him, "you're the Echo Twins!"


	2. Warmup

WARM-UP

(A/N: these titles are all music based, in this case, I'm talking about before a concert even begins... well, I guess thats a duh...)

The Titans allowed Syren and Chanson into their tower and offered them hot drinks to counter the hypothermia the cold waters of the bay had induced on the twins. The two girls had changed out of their clothes and currently sat on the couch, wearing robes. Chanson sat as close to the corner as she could, Syren sat right next to her; between Chanson and the Titans, obviously protecting the cowering girl that tried to hide behind her back.

"Thanks," Syren finally said as color began to return to her cheeks.

"No problem," Robin offered, "but how did you girls end up here?"

"Yeah!" Beastboy seemed particularly interested, "where have you two been for the past half a year?"

As if the mere mention of the timeframe caused her to relive the experience, Chanson began to cry into Syren's back.

Sombering significantly, Beastboy felt regret for even asking.

"After our..." Syren wrapped her arms around her sister as she searched for the right words, "...ordeal, Chanson and I discovered that we somehow had developed these powers."

"Please, tell me," Starfire asked, completely oblivious, "what ordeal do you speak of?"

Chanson wailed and Syren cringed at the question.

Robin turned to Starfire and began whispering into her ear. The Tamaranian eyes widened and she rushed over to the twins and wrapped her arms around them.

Robin noticed that Starfire's touch didn't seem to bother Chanson at all, but his touch and Beastboy's approach had scared her witless.

After Starfire released them, Syren smiled and Chanson's crying had lessened to a few tears trickling down her cheeks. "Thank you," the fearful girl whispered.

"So," Cyborg seemed to want to move away from the source of such grief, "Tell us about your powers."

Syren shifted as Chanson sat regularly on the couch.

Chanson took a deep breath before looking at the Titans with her heterochromatic eyes, "Our main power," even though she seemed calm, her voice was still quiet and sounded fearful, "you've already seen. We can infuse our voices with energy and release the power in blasts."

"Yeah," Beastboy accussed, "I was only trying to help by the way. Why did you blast me?"

Chanson cowered behind Syren, nervously peeking over her shoulder.

Sighing, Syren answered that, "men scare her. I'm sure you can figure out why."

"So," Raven asked, "how did you end up in the bay?"

"well," Chanson meekly answered, "we were actually coming here anyways."

"On our way to Titan's Tower to see if you'd let us join you," Syren added, "a man in an orange mask attacked us..." she blushed from clear embarassment, "I accidentally sank our boat trying to fight him off. I didn't think about the fact that we weren't on solid ground like when Chanson and I trained."

"Well," Cyborg smiled, "we're always ready to have a couple extra hands."

"You said a man in an orange mask," Robin's eyes narrowed as he thought about his old nemisis, "could you be a little more specific?"

The moment Syren opened her mouth, the alarm sounded.

"Trouble!" Robin stood up, "Titans go!" Once he reached the door, he turned to the sisters still on the couch, "Quick grab your clothes! I'll lead you to the T-Car."

Both girls looked elated.


	3. Opening Act

OPENING ACT

The Titans arrived as a dark, slender figure threw a small child to the ground, "she was such a delicious girl... Too bad she was so small."

Starfire threw a starbolt that hit the fidgure squarely, causing him to shriek in pain. "What have you done to that child!"

Grinning as he turned, the figure gave a theatrical bow. "My dear Titans," He said with a detatched grin which revealed his canines were oddly long, "everyone must eat. I Frostbite am no exception."

"Eat?" Beastboy looked over at the girl and felt a rage burning deep within him, "You ATE her?"

"Of course," Frostbite's expression became that of one explaining something simple to a child, "that is how we Strigoi survive."

"Str- whatits?"

"It means Vampire," Raven blandly translated as she began to feel her own emotions stir, "the monster drained the girl of her blood and used it to continue his own cursed life."

"Monster?" Frostbite looked insulted, "not I! I only do what is natural to me. This is no different than you killing a cattle so you can have your hamburgers!"

Ever since her own violation, Chanson had been on a vendetta to protect any other women from any form of suffering... she just plain heard enough. Without even thinking, she snatched Robin's staff and extended it by flicking her wrist as she charged. Growling ferociously, she brandished the pole and swung, only to find Frostbite duck under her attack and lift her off the ground by the throat.

"My, my..." Frostbite mused as her stared into the girl's eyes, "such fury. However, you have a consuming fear..."

"TITANS GO!" Robin commanded as he realized just how bad the situation was.

Chanson's breath came from her mouth as a cloud, as if she were breathing out into frigid winter air. She started struggling as her fingers began to numb.

"Allow me to end that fear."

Chanson's eyes narrowed as she screamed, blasting her undead captor several yards away. She clutched her throat gagging, her skin nearly frozen. "Ice magic!" she warned the others with much strain in her voice.

As Frostbite stood, the other Titans were lifted into the air by freezing winds. "I do not conform to what YOU consider acceptable, therefore I am the one in the wrong? You children are so arrogant that YOU should be the ones being persicuted!" He prepared a spell and fired it as he threw his arms out at Starfire.

Falling to the ground encased in ice, Starfire was temporarily incapacitated.

Cyborg opened his sonic cannon and fired, "you aren't as cool as you think you are!"

Beastboy charged as a rhinocerous once the cannon blast halted.

"My style has nothing to do with my opinion!" Frostbite blocked the attack with his hands, but it still forced him several feet back. He threw Beastboy over his shoulder.

Syren leapt into the air and tried to land a jump kick. The attack was caught in the air and Syren was thrown into a wall by her ankle. The girl crumpled to the ground, the wind knocked from her.

"I admire your courage child," the Strigoi prepared another spell, "but you are clearly no fighter."

"She's not," Robin said as his own jump kick squarely struck the side of Frostbite's head, "but I am." Robin continued the attack as the vampire tried to defend.

"Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven freed Starfire from her ice prison and threw the shards at their conjurer with her spell as Robin leapt away.

Starfire unleashed a barrage of starbolts.

Once the dust cleared from the attacks, they saw their foe standing unharmed. "Youth today... They have such strength, but no discipline in its use."

"Duuude," Beastboy couldn't believe they hadn't even scrathed him yet.

"Unreal," Cyborg scanned him to confirm that no damage had been dealt at all. "We hit him hard, but nothing hurts him!"

"Of course not," Frostbite seemed amused, "I just fed. My healing is nearly instantanious for the next hour."

"So," Starfire asked nervously, "we are unable to harm him?"

"You have done much damage to me," Frostbite said assuredly, "If you had come even two minutes prior, you would have easily defeated me by now. But the strength that Life's Blood gives my people is immesurable when it is from a child."

Both of the twins had struggled to their feet and caught their breath. They made eye contact, Chanson with a solution in her eyes and Syren nooding in response. They began vocalizing a wordless, and sweet melody. Everyone looked questioningly as the girls approached with obviously open guards. But then something changed; the song remained the same, the girls remained the same, everything was the same... but something wasn't. All of the Titans found some level of attraction, whether romantic or not, towards the Echo Twins.

"What is this?" Frostbite seemed affected as well, he stood frozen in place, entranced by the melody and the young women that sung it. "So beautiful," he mused as a tear came to his eye.

The twins began circling the vampire, almost as if they were dancing with him. The Strigoi seemed to revel in every moment. suddenly, the girls stopped circling and stood on opposite points, Chanson on Frostbite's left and Syren on his began talking in cycle, making sure that one of them was always singing. "You don't want to harm us, do you?" Syren asked.

"of course not," the infautated monster replied.

"When you hurt our friends, that upsets us terribly," Chanson said in a saddened tone.

"I won't do it anymore. I want you to smile."

"You wanna know what would make us smile?" Syren again.

"I'd do anything," he was ready to prove his love.

"Do you promise?" Chanson asked.

"I swear on the Strigoi Code," without realizing it, Frostbite invoked ancient magic by pledging like that.

"If you prove to us that you are sorry for taking the lives of innocents," Syren listed her head slightly, using her natural charm as well as her powers.

"How?"

"Turn yourself in," Chanson fluttered her eyes in a tantilizing manner.

"Must I?" Part of Frostbite seemed to be resisting the song, but it was far too late. "Is there no other means to please you?"

"No," Syren tried to look hurt.

"You promised," Chanson seemed about to cry.

The magic of Frostbite's vow took hold, "I wish not to, but I did give my word." His expression was of utter defeat, "I will surrender myself."

Raven wrapped Frostbite in a binding spell. Once that was done, Syren and Chanson ended their song.

With their senses flooding back, all of the Titans stared at the twins.

"Friends," Starfire seemed slightly concerned, but happy to have such allies, "you did not tell us of that power."

Elsewhere, a familiar masked figure stood as replays of the battle, taken from a traffic camera he had hacked, played on numerous screens. "Syren Echo and her sister Chanson... Quite an interesting pair." Sitting down, he laced his fingers and brought them near to his half black, half orange, one-eyed mask. Slade chuckled once, sounding almost like a cough. "I may have to monitor these two quite closely." hitting a button on his wrist, the screens all became one large projection of the fight from when the girls began their singing. "Yes... quite closely indeed."


	4. Singing their praises

SINGING THEIR PRAISES

"I don't know what you girls did!" Beastboy clapped a hand on the twins' shoulders once they got back to the tower, causing Chanson to jump away. "Sorry! I forgot about that!"

Syren glared at Beastboy as Chanson ducked around her.

Throwing up his hands defensively, "I mean it! I don't like to scare people."

Robin grasped Beastboy's shoulder as the twins continued towards the main area.

Looking over his shoulder, Beastboy had an 'I know' look all over his face.

Robin nodded, knowing that the green teen understood and they followed the others.

"I'm not entirely sure," Raven analyzed the evening's battle, "but I am guessing that you have at least one more power?"

"well..." Chanson was still keeping Beastboy in her peripheral vision, "I do, at least."

"We've discovered that if we use our powers together, they multiply eachother." Syren elaborated, "but I only have the sound blast and what you just saw. Chanson has a song that can accelerate your body's healing process."

"yeah," Chanson seemed embarassed, "we aren't fighters like you guys. It doesn't take much to put us down, I think that was some retribution for that."

"Did you guys always have your powers?" Cyborg asked as he opened the fridge and began pulling out ingredients for a late night breakfast.

"DUDE!" Beastboy interupted when he saw that not even a single vegan dish was being prepared, "how many times do we have to do this!"

"Look man," Cyborg just said over his shoulder, "you're a vegitarian, that's cool with me. But that doesn't mean that you have to deny the ladies a feast they've earned."

"Actually," Syren interjected, "I don't really eat meat. But I'm ok with dairy and eggs."

"Wait..." Beastboy plopped into one of the stools along the counter, "you don't eat meat, but you eat that stuff? I don't get it."

"I don't eat meat because of the fact that something has to die for me to eat it," Syren explained as she and Chanson sank into the couch. "But eggs aren't fertilized, so they would never be animals to begin with. And milk is just milk, if we didn't milk cows, it actually hurts them when they become engourged."

Beastboy looked like he had a point at one time or another, but it had been entirely destroyed. "I seriously never thought about it like that..."

Chanson raised her hand, "I'll have Syren's portion of bacon."

"So," Robin pointed out, "you still didn't answer his question."

"I think our powers were God's remuneration for what happened to us," Chanson's voice became shaky.

"It would make sense, in a way," Syren had appearently thought about this before, "that since the powers probably came from our emotional trauma, that Chanson would have more powers."

Chanson's face made it yet again obvious that the memory of her vioation was still a very sensitive wound for her. Syren grasped her sister's hand comfortingly. It wasn't the first time the girl's pain had brought a conversation to a halt.

"So..." Cyborg found a way to break the silence, altough it was a kinda pathetic reason, "how do you like your bacon?"

At the same time, in his hidden underground layer, the mysterious Slade had formulated a plan. Behind his mask he was smiling. If he could manage to get it to work, which he almost always succeded to some extent, He would actually be able to destroy the Teen Titans. "I believe it is time to reunite a few of my... friends..." Hitting a button on a hidden wall panel, Slade summoned several of his robotic minions. "It is time to step out of the shadows. I've let the Titans have their fun since the Trigan incident. But now the time is ripe to leave another hint that I have returned." Motioning with his hand, the automotans dispersed to their secret mission. "Soon, children. You will realize that the Brotherhood of Evil truely was old news, Slade has come back."


	5. Lamention

LAMENTION

(A/N: while lamention is an emotion, like many many emotions, there is a music stylized and named for it ;p)

Raven swore she heard something downstairs late that night. Leaving her room, she noticed the sounds were emenating from downstairs. Deciding to investigate further, she went to the main level; planning on chastizing the twins who weren't quite yet full-fledged Titans, but were staying in the Ops Room that doubled as the living room anyways.

However, when the Azeratian reached the ground level, she found the sounds were music, and weren't actually coming from the Ops Room. Following the echo, she found herself in the garage. Opening the door, she was assualted by the sound of 3OH!3 and Keisha's _My First Kiss_. She was, however somewhat suprised when she was met with the sight of Chanson singing and dancing to it as if she hadn't a single care in the world. Further peaking her interest was the fact that despite the outward bliss, Chanson's eyes were closed and tears of pain were falling slowly from them. Raven silently closed the door and silently watched the spectacle.

As the song ended, Chanson opened her eyes and moved to change the CD in the boom box. She saw a distorted reflection in the quarterpaneling of the T-Car. Turning with a look of fear, she seemed ungodly relieved to see Raven in the doorway.

"Please don't tell Syren," Chanson's look of shame surprised Raven outright.

"Why not," Raven walked over, "you weren't doing anything wrong. Other than being a little loud."

"You wouldn't understand," the blue and green eyes filled with tears.

"Even so," Raven sat down on a workbench and patted an open spot next to her, "you seem like you want to talk about it."

Chanson hesitated, obviously embarassed about what she would be saying if she agreed.

"You don't have to."

"No. you're right..." Chanson tenderly sat next to the dark girl, "I do need to talk about it."

After a few failed attempts at beginning, Chanson tried beginning on a tanget to lead into the conversation. "Music... is my passion. That is why I started my career in it with Syren. It's the only thing that makes me happy anymore. Singing... and especially dancing... I love dancing so much... I don't think Syren understands just how much it means to me."

After Chanson left it at that, Raven sensed a slight fear. Fear of revealing something that might be better left unsaid. "What do you mean?" she coaxed the black haired girl. She could tell that this needed to be said, even if her magic hadn't sensed a desperation in the girl.

"Chanson tries to protect me however she can. And because most of the time I'm actually scared, I let her and often even hide behind her... But she can take it too far. It's because of our popularity that we had such a freak of a fan, and Syren takes that literally. She gets upset at me merely humming or listening to any of our own songs, if I'm singing she gets mad, and if I dance... She gets really unreasonable." Shifting uncomfortably, Chanson hestitated again. "I-if our fame is the source of our pain, Syren tries to act as if we never sang before... and she tries to make me follow her music-free policy. Last time..."

"what?" Raven had a genuine interest now.

"She holds me back from things I really wanna do," Chanson suddenly jumped a step back in the conversation. The final part scared her. "She won't let me sing or dance..." Grasping Raven's hand for strength Chanson sighed, "she... I mean Syren... It... I can't say it."

"You don't have to," Raven comforted the former idol who leaned against her chest, silently crying.

"YES I DO!" Chanson knew that as much as it hurt her, as much as she loved her sister, what was going on needed to be rectified. "Syren... hurts me. She hits me, she's kicked me..." She clutched at the cloak draped around Raven, "Syren even once used her power on me."

The dark clad girl had no response other than to further comfort the crying girl. She thought she heard the door and snapped to face nobody. Once she was certain the room was empty besides them, Raven returned her attentions to the girl in her arms.

Leaning on the other side of the door, Syren slid to the ground. She was unable to comprehend what she'd just witnessed. Not only had Chanson just opened up to a relative stranger, but she'd revealed Syren's shame. She also finally realized just how cruel she was being to the girl who depended on her so much.

She'd never meant to fly off the handle those times. She was just so scared that Chanson would have another terrible experience if they returned to music that she'd snapped. Regardless that she never showed it, Syren was more scared of _everyone_ than Chanson was scared of men. She had been forced to watch her twin sister taken in a most horrible way, while because of fear, she was unable to do anything. Her protective nature stemmed from her feelings of inadequacy and failure for not even trying to stop Chanson's suffering.

She had to do something. But much like when she was looking down the barrel of a gun, Syren found her fear overwhelming. She wrapped her arms around herself and ran for the stairs, thinking that the fresh air might stave off her coming panic attack. As she began losing her grip on her emotions, Syren gave a squeeking sob as she ran up the stairs. She threw open the door and collapsed to her knees, hugging herself as she desperately tried to hold off her own emotions. Failing miserably, she threw her forehead to the concrete and began wailing. "How could I become something so horrible?" she screamed at the wind which had began whipping as a cold October night-storm began to pelt the tower with rain.

"There's nothing horrible about you," a voice came from behind her.

Turning, Syren saw a large shadow with a red spot glowing in it's head standing in the dorway. "Cyborg?"

"Yeah," Stepping from the doorway Cyborg held out a hand, "come back in. If you want, we can talk on the stairs."

"I don't deserve your kindness."

"Everybody deserves a helping hand," offering a gentle smile, Cyborg grasped Syren by her shoulders and lifted her to her feet. "Especially those who think they don't."

Syren sniffed then wailed into the eldest Titan's chest.

"Hey now, what could have a tough chick like you this messed up?"

"I-I've done ho-orrible things!" Syren sobbed.

Picking up Robin on his sensors, Cyborg waved the leader off without Syren noticing before the Boy Wonder could even ask anything. "It can't be that bad," he assured her without missing a beat.

"If I tell yo-ou, will you swear to-to never say anythi-hing?"

"I'll do you one better," Cyborg gave a comforting look, "I'll lock it away in a hidden file with a password."

Finally calming down enough to control her own body, Syren sat down on the top step. If her vision wasn't so blurred from tears, she'd have probably seen the corner of Robin's cape in the doorway as he walked away, figuring that him listening in wasn't just rude, but would get Cyborg into trouble. She let out a heavy sigh as the half-robot sat next to her, "I'm a horrible sister."

"Why do you think that?" Cyborg asked honestly, he thought that a sister and a protecter in one was exactly what a girl in Chanson's condition would need.

"I... I won't let her do the things she likes... I'm afraid it will lead to her getting hurt again."

"Well," Cyborg kinda had to step back to see the logic of that reasoning, "that's not enough reason to stop her."

Syren pulled her knees to her chest, "But, it's because of our music that she... got raped."

Realizing that he may need to stay in his detatched mindset to comprehend the logic, Cyborg wasn't as off-guard for that comment. "Things like that, as horrible as they are, happen. Who's to say that it wouldn't have happened if you were normal girls?"

Syren had to stop redirect a punch at the last second as her anger at the statement caused her to become violent. Shame written clearly across her entire being, Syren backed off apologetically, too ashamed to even speak.

"I know it was hard on you two. I can't even imagine how hard it was," he held up his hand and clenched a fist, "but we all have things we can't change: Raven has her father, I have my body, you and Chanson have that. It's learning to live with those things that makes us stronger."

"I'm sorry," Syren barely whispered.

"It's cool, there was a time that my body made me that angry too."

"But you just saw the problem."

"Problem?"

"My temper," without increasing her volume, Syren continued, "it gets violent before i can stop it. That's why I'm such a vile person."

"It doesn't make you bad," Cyborg put his hand on Syren's shoulder, "it's just something you need to work on."

"My temper is why I'm a horrible sister."

Cyborg withdrew his hand slightly as he realized what the crying girl was saying, "you didn't..."

Syren didn't answer, she just began wailing into her knees and rocking back and forth. After a second, between sobs she choked out, "a-a-and not only-y-y once!"


	6. Rock 'n Roll

ROCK 'N ROLL

Appearantly, Syren's crying on the staircase had been loud enough to wake all the Titans. Beastboy hadn't had the same level of decency that Robin had, so he'd pulled the same trick he'd done the time the dragon Melchior had tricked Raven. He had turned into an insect and sat on the wall, listening to the whole thing. He'd blabbed right to Robin and Starfire, and so, all the Titan's knew Syren's shame before morning came. Nobody, except Chanson, was suprised to see Syren curled up, sleeping in a corner as far from Chanson as she could, tear tracks traced clearly across her face.

After a very quiet breakfast, Syren looked over to the seat next to her at her twin sister. Chanson looked back as if it were all business as usual, a light smile etched across her face.

"Chanson," Syren sounded apprehensive, "I-I want to talk to you about the garage last night."

Chanson's face lost its color and she looked over at Raven as if asking for help.

As the other Titans began their various nervous reactions, Syren opened her mouth to speak again. However, the klaxon began sounding, cutting her off before she could explain that she wasn't upset about the dancing this time. Raven made eye contact and forcefully said, "It'll have to wait."

People screamed and ran for cover as Cinderblock threw another car. A small boy was directly in the way as it came soaring towards the ground. He screamed and threw up his arms protectively, but the impact never came. Instead he looked up at flowing red hair, "Run little one," Starfire said over her shoulder as she prepared to throw the vehicle back, "This is no place for you!" She grunted the last word as she launched the car directly at the one who first threw it.

Cinderblock knocked the car upwards and over his head, causing it to impact a few yards behind him. He growled at the Titans as they stood prepared for a fight in front of him.

"You never learn, do you?" Robin asked.

Cinderblock charged bellowing, causing a crater in the ground where Robin had been moments ago.

"Dude," Beastboy jibed, "that's a no." With that, he changed into a bull and charged. He knocked into the living rock, driving him to the ground. Beastboy had to change to an eagle as he was launched into the air by a kick.

"Hey Cyborg," Syren asked as she looked at his arm.

"What?"

"You're cannon's system is sound based right?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

Syren grinned, "so is mine... would they multipy eachother?"

Cyborg opened the cannons on both his arms, "what do ya say we find out?"

Syren took a deep breath as Cinderblock took notice of the girls he didn't recognize, Cyborg put his cannons on either side of her head, aiming directly at the now bum-rushing menace. Syren screamed and released her power into the soundwaves as Cyborg fired. The result of their experiment was an abysmal failure as the frequencies were so out of sync they collapsed on themselves, causing explosive complications. Cyborg wrapped his arms around Syren to keep her from skipping across the pavement and he broke her fall.

Chanson leapt in front of them as Cinderblock got even closer, he desire to protect overriding her fears. "I won't let you hurt my friends!" Even her challenge was infused with her power as she screamed it. The blast lifted Cinderblock off the ground with an obvious look of pain. Robin threw several of his explosive discs as Raven picked up some of the rubble and threw it with her magic. Starfire hit him with her eyebeams as she swooped in from above.

Getting off the ground, Cinderblock roared his defience.

"Are we even hurting him?" Cyborg asked as he got up

"I hope he's feeling as beat up as I do," Syren shook her head as she steadied herself.

"He's always been tough," Robin narrowed his eyes, "but he's never beaten us!"

Beastboy transformed into a Tyrannosauras and attacked. He grabbed Cinderblock between his jaws and threw him up into the air. Turning back to his human form, he yelled, "Star! He's yours!"

Starfire gathered all the strength she could and sent her foe back to the ground with a hammerblow.

Chanson caught Syren's eye and they stood facing each other in stances that suggested they were bracing for something directly beneath the plummeting Cinderblock. As he neared the ground, they sucked in a full chest of air. Right before he hit the ground between them, they released their power together. The combined blast formed a self contained echoing, centered around Cinderblock, who was howling in pain. The attack was so powerful that it literally stopped Cinderblock's fall.

Once the attack reached it's peak, the twins crossed their arms in front of their faces. The block protected their faces from the explosion caused by the titanic power of their combined screams. Both girls were knocked to the ground sliding a few feet, both of them disoriented.

Cinderblock slowly stood up to the amazement of the other Titans. However the fact that he was nearly finished was obvious from the lack of coordination in his movements. He stumbled around for a moment. Upon spotting Chanson, he seemed to sober up and leapt to body slam the girl struggling to her feet.

In the time it took anyone else to react, Beastboy was already halfway there. He'd transformed into the werewolf-like beast he'd first become during the Adonis incident, and using its spped and strength he shoulder rammed Cinderblock hard enough to stop him from crushing the currently helpless girl.

Cinderblock stayed on the ground this time, he was defeated.

Beastboy walked up to Chanson and tentitively offered his hand, "You okay?"

Chanson looked at his hand nervously. But just as he started to pull it away, she grasped it and allowed him to help her stand. She had to lean on Beastboy for balance, the attack the girls had once decided on calling Echo Bomb had temporarily destroyed her ability to do it on her own. "I'll be fine after a couple hours."

Everyone seemed suprised to see Chanson allow a man to touch her without a fit.

Syren had appearently been knocked out by the blast, having already been blown up once before that. Cyborg carried her in his arms, "She'll be alright," he confidently assured the openly concerned Chanson.

"How can you be so concerned about somebody who is so mean to you?" Beastboy voiced his thoughts before he realized he was thinking out loud.

Chanson threw him to the ground and jumped on top of him. She shook him by the collar, "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Beastboy defended himself as Chanson raised a fist.

"I love my sister and nothing will ever change that!" Chanson shook as she tried to not beat the snot out of the green boy beneath her, "she can break my legs so badly that I'll never dance again! I'd hate her for it, but I know that I'd still love her!"

A black aura wrapped around Chanson's arm. "Calm down," Raven demanded, "he said something stupid, and you made your point. Let it go."

Chanson looked over at Raven to her left, then back at Beastboy on the ground. She sighed and stood up. She looked back at Beastboy with a glare then walked a few steps before she could no longer hold her own balence and fell to the ground.


	7. Death Metal

7 - DEATH METAL

(A/N: Terminator was Slade's name in the original comics, and SladeBot sounds retarded, so I called his robotic minions Terminators as a tribute... Also, just wanna make sure you are all pronouncing it right, its not 'CHAN-sin', its more like 'SHAN-sun'. my brother said it wrong and it bothered me, thats all.)

Chanson laid on the cot, staring up at the cieling of the medical wing of Titans' tower, Syren still slept on the other. Chanson listened to the voices of Cyborg and Robin on the other side of the door. "Man, I don't think there IS anything wrong with the security system. I already scanned it three times."

"Cyborg, the system was actively scanning when we got here. It was searching for targets. But the cameras show nothing, something somewhere in the computer is wrong."

"Did you check all the cameras?"

"Do I look stupid to you? There's nothing wrong with them."

Chanson slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed, and walked unsteadily to the door as the arguement continued. When it opened, both the boys looked relieved slightly. "Robin, what if they enemy couldn't be seen?"

Cyborg thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "I don't think anybody around here has a cloaking device."

Robin looked annoyed, "are you kidding? In Jump City alone: Red X has one, Gizmo could easily make one and..."

"I already know what that pause means," Cyborg crossed his arms, "We haven't heard from Slade in a long time, he's probably moved on to another town."

"No, think about it... Cinderblock breaks free and we don't know about it until he's on rampage." He looked over at Chanson. "Was the mask on the man who attacked your boat half orange and half black?"

"No, it was black with a large orange circle."

"A Terminator?" Cyborg's face showed fear. The Terminators were relatively weak, but their appearence meant that Slade was active again.

Robin didn't wait, he flipped open his communicator, "Raven."

After a moment, Raven's face appeared on his screen.

"Sweep the building with your mind," Robin's voice was more of a frantic demand than a request, "See if there is somebody cloaked."

Her eyebrow twitched at his tone, but she understood it was urgent. Down in the Ops room, she began to meditate, "Azerath Metrion Zinth- AAAHH!" She screamed as an electric shock passed through her body.

"RAVEN!" Robin yelled as he bounded for the stairs. He switched to the general freq on his comm as he leapt down, floor by floor. "TITANS INTRUDER IN THE TOWER!"

"Stay here!" Cyborg looked at Chanson, "protect your sister!"

Chanson nodded determinedly.

Robin was the first to reach Raven, he knelt next to her. His senses were peaked, just because you can't see somebody doesn't mean you can't hear them coming, or even smell them.

As Starfire entered the room, She screamed as she was also struck down by the unseen foe.

"STARFIRE!" Robin called to his unconcious friend. Reaching for his communicator, he called to warn the others. "He's in the-" An S-shaped razor-edged boomerang destroyed the device in his hand.

"No-no Robin," Slade slowly faded into existence, "We can't have any interruptions, now can we?"

Robin looked around as the Ops Room went into Lockdown-mode. The doors snapped shut, with a secondary armor covering them. Titanium platting bolted its way across the windows. The lights went out, and left red emergency lights as the only source of vision. Robin turned back to Slade and extended his staff.

"Shall we?" Slade asked as he drew his weapon. This time, instead of his usual staff, he held in his hand a katana.

"Even if you cut me with that," Robin pushed everything from his mind and brought all of his focus into the room and the foe before him, "you'll never defeat us."

"RAH!" Slade yelled as he leapt at Robin, brandishing the blade.

"We gotta get in there!" Beastboy began transforming randomly and using the strengths and abilities of various animals to try and bust in the door.

"Its useless like that," Cyborg opened one of his fingers to get to his fusion cutter. He cut open a panel and began looking for a connection port to hack the security systems.

The sound of a blast from above alerted them that Robin wasn't the only one in a battle.

"The twins are in trouble!" Beastboy new time would be of the essence because of the girls' inexperence in fighting. "Throw me!"

"What? Are you crazy man?"

"JUST DO IT!"

Cyborg grabbed him by the collar and threw Beastboy upwards. bringing his hands up to guard himself from falling rubble as the younger teen changed into a triceritops in order to break through the levels.

Chanson fell to the ground as it began to shake beneath her. She looked at the few Terminators she'd managed to defeat by using various objects in the room as weapons. In the hallway was a larger number in pieces from her screams. The robots were able to remain standing, and one snatched her by the hair as another grasped her by the throat.

Memories flooded her mind as Chanson remembered all too well the fellings of helplessness caused when being held down. Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she looked over at her still unconcious sister. Chanson felt herself lose control of her body and she went limp, her mind and body disconnected as a defense mechanism. This was too similar to the events of her past: She was held down, Syren couldn't help her, and now she couldn't help herself. Chanson felt herself drowning a well of self-induced darkness.

"HANG ON!" Beastboy called as he drop kicked a Terminator blocking the way to the door he could see Chanson pinned and being strangled, with Terminators advancing on Syren as well. "I'M COMING!" He transformed into an ox and charged through as best he could. Once enough stood in his way to stop his charge, he changed into a monkey and trapiezed over them. He became himself again when he landed in the medical room. He grabbed a scalpel from the ground and threw it at the minion choking the life from Chanson as he became a gorrila and sent the ones about to attack Syren flying out the window.

Chanson hacked and gasped for breath as her face began to change back to normal colors. She crawled into a corner and curled into a ball, her mind couldn't figure out what was going on anymore. All she saw was something green keeping something black out of the room. There she remained, somewhere between conciousness and nightmares, somewhere between reality and Hell.

As much as Robin had improved in the past year, Slade always managed to stay one level better. Robin found himself bleeding from several places where the blade had bit into him. Slade stepped back, "I'm glad to see you haven't entirely lost your touch without me."

"It's always about you," Robin snarled as he tried to catch his breath, "isn't it?"

"Come now Robin," Slade was grinning under his mask, "you know its always been about you. I train you to get good enough to be a decent challenge."

"Like I said," Robin changed his stance, "you just don't wanna get bored."

"Silly boy."

Robin was dumbfounded when Slade sidestepped his strike and he found metal clean through his shoulder.

"Just because I said you were a challenge doesn't mean you are near my level yet."

"When did you get that fast?" Robin grunted as the katana was drawn from him, dripping with crimson blood.

"I've always been this good," Slade's tone made it obvious he wasn't lying, "I guess you were right on one thing. I've been holding back for a long time, I just didn't wanna beat you in one go and get bored afterwards."

Robin fell to the ground, his body giving way as blood continued to flow from his shoulder.

Slade changed his grip and raised the weapon above his head. "That changes today."

Chanson's mind began to return as Beastboy began to get overwhelmed by the seemingly endless flow of Terminators. She picked up the stool next to her and charged, breaking open the head of one of the machines with a wild scream. These things had caused her pain, so very much pain; and for that, they would pay. She braced herself and used the stool as a ram, pushing the machines back into the hallway, where she planned to get them all with one attack. She looked over at Beastboy and nodded for him to help.

Understanding her plan, Beastboy became a bull. He lowered his head and pushed. The plan worked, until one of the Terminators grabbed Beastboy by the horns and threw him into the sea of black machines behind itself.

Chanson got the feeling the Teminators were trying to keep her out of the hallway. Divide and conquer had been proven effective thousands of times throughout history. Chanson saw many different green shapes through the many black forms as she tried to fight her way to her savior. She used her power to blow a large group of them away.

Suddenly every Terminator between her and Beastboy turned to face her. Her anger roiling, Chanson charged. She was brought to a halt when she slipped on the slick floor and found herself facedown in a pool of red. Not noticing the blue beams of energy destroying her enemies, Chanson slowly followed the trail of red to see a broken and motionless green body at the feet of her attackers.


	8. Adagio for Strings

8 - ADAGIO FOR STRINGS

(A/N: search 'platoon theme' on youtube. Adagio for Strings is the actual title of the song... I've decided to not use excerpts from my book, i'm past the point I would have incorperated them anyways.)

"NO!" Chanson had finally found a guy she began to trust. Sure he was stupid, and annoying... but he was genuinely kind. As if God were conspiring against her, that one young man laid in a pool of his own blood ten or so feet away. Cyborg's sonic cannon kept blasting the Terminators between her and Beastboy's ravaged body.

Beastboy's hand twitched. The motion caused Chanson to snap out of the trance she was in, she began scrambling across the floor to him on her hands and knees. The Terminators, whether attacking or destroyed, didn't exist.

Beastboy gave a pained, grunting sigh as Chanson lifted his head to her.

"Don't die!" Chanson Echo screamed, "not like this! Not because of me!"

A weak grin crossed Beastboy's face as he opened his left eye, his right too swollen to even twitch, "I... was worried... you didn't like... me."

"Of course I like you! I like you more than any guy I've even talked to for months!"

Closing his eye, the youngest Titan sighed. "I'm sorry... Chanson..."

"NO! YOU CAN'T GO!"

Cyborg had cleared the room and knelt next to her, not caring that anyone saw him cry as one of his best friends ever laid dying on the floor.

"Don't worry..." Beastboy tried reached up towards Chanson's face, but his injuries prevented him from moving that far. He winced before continuing, "the Titans... will... protect you... Syren... too..." A long, slow exhale escaped his mouth. And no breaths followed.

Pulling Beastboy to her chest, Chanson howled with such force that it caused her to lean forward.

Cyborg tried to open a channel to any of the other Titans. But instead, Raven's teleportation spell opened behind him and she set a bloody Robin and and unconcious Starfire on the ground. She saw the scene before her. Before she could control the emotions caused by the sight of a fallen friend, Raven had to redirect a nearly uncontrolable surge of her magic. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she got enough of a grip on herself to prevent destroying their home. "How?" She asked, grasping a stab wound on her side from where she'd intercepted the intended fatal blow to Robin. She squeezed it, trying to use the pain to keep her emotions in check.

"HE *hiccup* SAVED *choke* ME *gag*," Chanson was frantic with guilt and sadness, "THEY GOT HIM!" she managed to force out all at once before having to hand Beastboy over to Cyborg as she had cried hard enough to trigger her gag reflex.

It was at this point that Syren staggered through the now warped door. "What the fuc-" she cut silent when she saw everybody was at the best bruised, at the worst dead, with Robin not far from that point either. "What did I miss?"

Chanson stopped crying and tensed. She made a fist as the memories of the past half hour played through her mind at breakneck speeds. She wiped the vomit from the corner of her mouth before turning and charging her sister.

Syren, who still had no idea what was happening around her, only managed to backpedal before getting leapt on and punched right in the face.

"You bitch!" Chanson swung again, "you sat there sleeping when I needed you!" And again she struck Syren, "When they needed you!" once more Chanson hit Syren, "When HE needed you! YOU let Beastboy die!" She raised her hand again, but then saw what she was doing. Chanson gingerly laid her head onto Syren's shoulder and began crying again, "he died for us... he died and you were sleeping..."

As if from a slumber, Raven remembered that if they didn't hurry, another Titan might join the fallen. She used her magic to move Robin to the cot Chanson had been sleeping on before the battle. "We need to stablize him before I can try to heal him," she explained as she turned to Cyborg.

Nodding, Cyborg set Beastboy down, crossing his arms over his chest. As much as it pained him to think this way, Robin was still fighting for life, Beastboy had already fallen into darkness.


	9. Requiem

9 - REQUIEM

(A/N: There has been much argueement between my frineds and myself about WHICH ROBIN the Robin from the Teen Titans CN-toon is. It is either a young Dick Greyson or [As I FIRMLY believe] Tim Drake. Either way, the Series had him become Nightwing in 'How Long is Forever' which I think is some of the few pieces of evidence of him being Dick, as well as him forming the Titans, as well as his relationship with Starfire... and I guess that 'Larry' the alternate dimension robin's name is Nosyerg Kcid, which is Dick Greyson backwards. everything else points strongly at Tim, age, attitude, Tim was the first Robin with full leg cover, even the way he talks is closer to Tim than Dick... Nightwing is the name Adult Dick uses, Red Robin is adult Tim... Both were leaders of Titans for a time in the comics, you decide which Robin it is for yourselves. I had him become Nightwing because it sounds better and its what the series used... Sorry for the rant!)

The funeral service for Garfield Mark Logan was much larger than anyone had expected. Whether it was friends found in the Honorary Titans and Titans East, to people he'd saved, or his former teammates of the Doom Patrol; The entire Jump City Stadium was filled to the point of standing room only with people coming to honor BeastBoy's many sacrifices and acts of heroism.

It was about an hour into the service that a slight tremor shook the arena. Cyborg checked his sensors. He looked at Robin, who was clad in a black suit with a blue eagle across his chest, "Robi- I mean, Nightwing," Cyborg had almost forgotten that Robin had changed his name along with his look, "It's centered here."

In the time since Raven had healed him, Robin had done much soul-searching. He'd found places he could improve upon himself, such as the amount of mercy he'd show. His eyes were nearly perpetually narrowed as if scrutinizing everything he could see. He scanned the line of people coming to pay their respects, and spotted a blonde in a school uniform clutching her head. He pointed, "She remembers now."

Following Nightwing's motion, the Titans saw a familiar face. Although the sisters remembered her more for her time as Slade's apprentice, Terra had once been a Titan. After sacrificing herself to stop a volcaninc eruption, she'd become cacooned by her earth-manipulation powers. A year or so after that, BeastBoy had found her alive again. However, she wasn't the girl he'd known and loved, she didn't remember anything nor could she access her powers. But appearently, the emotional shock of seeing BeastBoy dead broke through the barrier that kept her from herself.

Terra fell to her knees sobbing as her emotions returned just as strongly as if she had woken up as her past self in the morning. Starfire, having been unable to feel the happiness requiered to fly since the fall of her friend, strode over to the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are among friends here," she comforted the blonde, "do not weep by yourself."

Terra gathered her breath, "Starfire, I never got to make a real apology to him. I did so many terrible things and all I ever did was say sorry once."

"Do not worry," Starfire lifted her friend off the ground, "you proved that you were sorry. You sacrifced yourself for a great many. He forgave you, as did we."

Terra turned and hugged the Tamaranian princess. After a moment, she felt Starfire leading her to the rest of the Titans. She smiled weakly and turned slightly away, ashamed of everything she'd put them all through. "H-hi guys..."

"Hey," Cyborg's downtrodden voice was very unlike him, but he still felt a little happy that the girl was herself again.

Raven nodded, she hadn't spoken since the she finished healing the now-called Nightwing. She feared that if she acknowledged her own mind beyond what she needed to, that she might have an emotional breakdown from her memories of BeastBoy.

"It's good to see you," Nightwing's voice was as cold as the fall breeze in the open-air stadium. The stadium was filled with the heat of so many bodies in a space, except when the breeze moved the air, reminding everyone why they brought their jackets. However, the chill in his voice was obviously self-directed, even to those that had never heard him speak before. He had failed to consider something so simple as a cloaking device, and because of that, the Titans had been spread throughout the tower when the attack started. Nightwing held himself responsible for BeastBoy's death.

Syren was the First of the Titans to greet Terra that she didn't know. She akwardly offered her hand "Um, hi. I'm Syren Echo."

"You mean from the Echo Twins?" Terra looked over at Chanson, who was oddly enough standing on the opposite side of the group from Syren. "Wow, I didn't know you guys had powers."

Chanson came over to meet the girl, "I'm Chanson."

"I'm Terra."

"Nice to meet you. So... you were close to him?"

Terra went from a sad almost normal version of herself, right back to crying.

Chanson realized that was a stupid question; Terra had been a Titan as well as there having been rumors that the two of them were a couple. Chanson wasn't sure why, but she felt jealous that Terra had been so close to him.

"I'm sorry Terra," Nightwing apologized as he put a hand on her shoulder, "I never should have let this happen."

"For the last time man," Cyborg countered, "It wasn't your fault."

"No," Chanson looked over at Syren as she said, "it isn't YOUR fault."

Cyborg shot an annoyed look at Chanson, making it clear that her openly blaming Syren was a regular thing. "and i'm telling YOU that its not HER fault either. She was unconcious."

Syren's eyes seemed to carry a similar look to Nightwing's: regret, self-doubt, and anger at the world around her. She felt guilty about not being able to protect Chanson and help BeastBoy in the fight, she knew that if she had been awake, he'd likely still be alive.

Terra could feel the tension and it made her uncomfortable. "I should go."

Starfire caught Terra by the arm as she turned. "Friend, I would like to offer you an invitation to come back home."

"But," Terra looked at the ground without turning around to face them. "I did so many terrible things. Even when you tried to help me, I still attacked you. I don't deserve another chance."

"Everyone makes mistakes," Cyborg assured her.

"You guys really want me back?" Terra still couldn't turn to face them.

"It seems to me," Nightwing observed, "that the question isn't 'can we forgive you?'. Its 'can you forgive yourself?' Terra, your sacrifce proved to all of us that you really are good at heart. You need to prove it to yourself."

Terra looked at her hands as she realized that Nightwing hit the nail on the head. "But Robin, where could I start?"

"You start wherever you need to," Raven finally spoke, much to everyone's suprise. "It isn't something you can do overnight either. But let me make a suggestion, start small. Fix what you see as your small issues first. The problems you look at as why you can't forgive yourself are far too intense to handle alone."

Raven had been the last person Terra had expected to comment. It gave her a little more confidence in herself, she turned to face BeastBoy's coffin and extended a hand. A slight yellow aura surrounded her hand as a chunk of stone rose from the ground. Terra close her hand into a fist, causing much of the stone to burst into sand. The result was a large rock rose that hovered up and leaned against the side of the coffin. "Goodbye," she whispered, closing her eyes as one final tear rolled down her cheek. Turning to face the Titans, Terra opened her eyes, "I'm home," she gave a weak smile as she tried to offer her presence as a little comfort to the other grieving Titans.


	10. Alumina

ALUMINA

(A/N: couldn't think of a title. but I was listening to Alumina by Nightmare [ .com/watch?v=WGUpUKeAgkE&p=2876BDAF0C2C6B46&index=11&shuffle=96&playnext=1 ] when I worte part of it. The song is about emotions and how they affect us, and I hit most of the emotional spectrum in this chap. So i went with that...)

Chanson stood in the training room, the remains of several drones lying at her feet. She clutched at a cut on her shoulder. She looked at the staff she'd recently adopted as a weapon since Nightwing had plenty of htem anyways. "I'm still not strong enough..." She gathered her breath and calmy looked up at Syren in the control booth, "again."

"No," Syren protested, "you're hurt! at least let me patch you up first."

"We've seen them all fight with wounds in the three weeks since BeastBoy died!" Chanson responded, "the attacks on the city are becoming more intense and more frequent! We are against an enemy that mosly uses machines that don't need to rest or heal... We can't waste any time anymore."

Syren had been slowly wathcing her sister change since Beastboy's death, her vendetta to protect all women had turned into a vendetta to protect EVERYONE. She'd made Nightwing teach her how to fight, and she'd recently become quite good. However, Chanson's attitude was becoming just as intense as the war against Slade was becoming; even with the support from many Honorary Titans, many of the battles had been close.

Chanson was almost embarassed by how little progress Syren had made in the past few weeks. While Syren had always been the stronger of the two, she seemed lax in her training in the eyes of the girl who had noticed how close Basshunter's song _I Can Walk On Water_ sounded to her current mentality. She wouldn't allow anybody else to fall, even if she didn't know them. She took a stance and this time yelled it, "AGAIN!"

Raven walked into the booth as Syren hit the sequence of buttons to summon ten training drones. "Ten?" That's impressive when you think about how you guys could have maybe beaten three when you got here."

"Please don't praise her," Syren said with her finger hovering over the abort button, "she's doing again."

"My empathic powers may not be perfect," Raven closed her eyes and reached out towards Chanson with her mind, "but as strong as she acts, Chanson is acting out of fear. Nothing has really changed about her other than WHAT she fears."

Chanson drove the end of her staff into the camera that the drones use as an eye as she crushed another's head into its shoulders with an axe-kick.

"I fear what she's becoming," Syren nearly cried when she saw the rage in her twin's eyes. Through the subliminal connection they shared, she got the feeling that the drones were Terminators in Chanson's mind. "If she keeps this up, she will snap. I want the sweet girl I used to sing and dance with back."

"We both know that Chanson died on the night that ended your music career," Raven didn't realize how cruel that sounded until after she said it. She softened her tone of voice as she considered something Chanson had once told her, "You know, all she ever wanted to do was continue your music. Maybe if you offered, you may have the chance to see that side of her again."

"I was there during that conversation," Syren admitted. "You know how I feel about that."

"I also know how you feel about her," Raven nodded towards Chanson as she now only had one drone left. "It's up to you," Raven turned and left.

Syren watched as Chanson stabbed through the armored chest of the drone and collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. "Come on," she demanded, "it's break time."

"I'm fine," Chanson countered as she stood up.

"At least eat something."

Giving a strange look somewhere between annoyed and considerate, Chanson eyed Syren over her shoulder. She flicked her wrist to collapse the staff and placed it on her hip, "I guess lunch wouldn't hurt."

As they walked up the stairs towards the Ops Room, they passed Kid Flash. "Hey! I know you!"

"Almost everybody does," Syren commented as they stopped.

"I used to be a big fan," he leaned against the hand-railing, "still am I guess. That whole Butt-kicking girl thing is really cool."

"Are you trying to hit on both of us at the same time?" Chanson asked.

"Me? Nah, but thanks for asking."

The girls looked at each other and smiled, the same thought on their minds. "We don't really mind," Syren turned her smile to KF.

"Yeah," Chanson winked, "we've pretty much been treated as one person since birth."

Kid Flash smirked, "There's no way I'd treat you as one. You are individuals, both special and different."

"Oh, aren't you a smooth operator?" Syren teased

"But," Chanson said with faux embarassment, "I don't know if we should be letting you do this. I could fall for a cute guy with wit like yours."

"How would that be a bad thing?"

Both twins smirked and pointed up the stairs at a very pissed off Jinx. Chanson was to busy laughing at the look of fear on KF's face, so Syren turned to Jinx as her bad-luck powers began to crackle around her hands, "if you break anything you replace it."

Jinx growled, "I'll keep that in mind," as she stormed past the girls. Kid Flash took off down the stairs as Jinx leapt down to the next flight, "WHAT PART OF GIRLFRIEND DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?" A large crashing noise drowned out most of the next few comments.

"Oh God!" Chanson laughed, "that was too easy!"

"I think we should feel bad," Syren said as she still couldn't help but giggle, "She did switch sides because of him."

"If a guy like that is enough to make a girl switch sides, we should have him start recruiting."

As they opened the door to the Ops room, Nightwing was on his way out. "You ok?" he asked as he saw Chanson's shoulder.

"I'm still not good enough," She said as if thoroughly ashamed that her teacher would she her wound.

"How many were you fighting?"

"only ten," again she seemed ashamed.

"Not bad," Nightwing commented in an analytical voice, "see if you can't beat twelve before monday."

Syren stepped in front of Chanson, "Stop pushing her so hard!"

It felt like the entire tower stopped, even Jericho stopped playing his guitar on he other side of the room.

"Syren," Chanson felt akward, she wanted to improve, even if it wouldn't impress anyone. But the way Syren was acting about it made her feel like it was a bad thing.

"Everyone has limits, and you should all be able to see how close she is to hers!"

"Only Chanson can tell when she's hit the wall," Nightwing seemed annoyed by Syren's interference, "and unlike someone else, she's giving everything she has to improve."

"Because I know when enough is enough!" Syren's hands clenched into fists, "I want to have something left in me the next time that alarm sounds! If I'd train myself to the ground, I'd be useless when all that training would be needed most!"

"Big sister Syren," Timmy grasped her hand, "please stop yelling. Yelling is bad."

"I'm yelling to protect someone," She squated down and tussled the young hero's orange hair. "That's okay to do." She smiled gently, "Understand?"

"So, if yelling will save someone... I can do it?"

"Yep, your power needs you to yell, remember?"

Timmy laughed at his own forgetfulness, "Okay, can I yell too?"

"Not this time, this isn't your fight. You should go play with Melvin."

"Okay, but call if you need help!" With that, he ran back towards Jericho where Melvin and Teether were.

Syren's face hardened again.

After several moments of glaring at each other, Nightwing finally said, "Fine, under the condition that you stop interrupting her lessons."

"I only interrupt when you keep hitting her while she's down."

"It's pain endurance," Nightwing said without any remorse, "The more times you've been hit in the past, the more times you can take getting hit in the future. It's one of the ways she's surpassed you. and give it another month, she'll have you beat in every category."

"Is that what this is about?"

"Syren stop! It's ok, I know why he keeps hitting me, that's why I don't ask him to stop!"

After taking in all the info and processing it, Syren softened. She turned back to Nightwing, "I agree."

"Good," He began to walk further.

Syren looked at Chanson and smiled, then she bounded after him. "Hey, wait up! I got something else i wanna talk about."

The door closed almost catching Chanson's nose. She wondered what could be so important that Syren would leave after practically demanding they eat lunch together. Jericho's guitar began playing again, and the music drew her over. "you're really good," she commented with honest amazement that anyone could play an acoustic insturment so effortlessly.

Jericho smiled sweetly. The look in his eyes seemed to be asking something as he changed the tune to something slightly faster.

After she noticed her heel began to tap to the beat, Chanson realized the question. "You want me to dance?"

Jericho nodded.

Chanson glanced nervously at the door that Syren had left through. She still didn't know that Syren had accepted the fact that she dances when she thought nobody was looking.

"Come on Chanson," Melvin shook the older girl's arm, "everybody says you were really good."

"Oh," Chanson had found that she couldn't deny these children days ago, "okay."

Closing her eyes, Chanson got a feel for the song. She took a deep breath and began swaying to the sound. After a few more seconds, she had a strong handle on the song when she figured out it resembled the Flemenco genre from Spain. She'd danced nearly every style known to man at one point or another because of her dance lessons, this was her favorite by far. She stomped her foot twice, telling Jericho to pick up the tempo.

Jericho was appearently well versed in the unspoken communications between dancer and insturmentalist as he increased the speed slightly.

Chanson began moving her hips in time with the music, clapping as she began to sweep across the floor. She felt whole again as she began to twist her body from one side to the other. She began snapping as if her hands were the castenettes you'd often see Flemenco dancers holding. Her body never once lost tempo, her snapping accentuated the already impressive sound of Jericho's playing and Chanson found herself in a state of bliss.

Syren stood leaning against the door jam as she and Nightwing watched through the open door. "See what I mean?"

"Whatever," Nightwing turned, flicking a hand over his shoulder, signaling his defeat. "Throw your party, but if that alarm goes off..."

"I know, I know. No complaints."

"We begin training on monday."

"Right. And in return for the party, you can beat me as much as you want."

Nightwing looked insulted when he turned, "I told you, it's not like that."


	11. Tatu

TATU

(A/N: yes, the band... you'll see why)

"HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN! HALLOWEEN!" The three children were running in circles, chanting their joy about the holiday. Although Teether, still learning speech sounded more like "Ha'ween!"

"Little ones!" Starfire futile attempts at controlling them were found comical by Jinx and Hotspot, "I want to carve out the lanterns of Jack!"

"Jack'o'Lantern," Terra corrected her from on the couch, Despite her best efforts, BeastBoy's death still taxed her emotions heavily. While Terra, although mostly from her training with Slade, seemed to be one of the most effective weapons the Titans had against Slade and his army. Although, she'd been rather introverted after she discovered she could control Cinderblock's body and unintentionally ripped him apart during the last fight. She shifted and had to adjust the flask she kept hidden in the elastic of her underclothes. She didn't want anyone else to know she drank; it was the only way she could relax enough to sleep at all. As opposed to what she had believed, it became harder and harder the longer she stayed with the Titans.

"You okay?"

Terra looked to see Kole smiling at her. The two girls had proven to be an unstoppable combination, Terra actually able to control Kole in her crystal form including changing her body position, much to the chagrin of Gnaark. The caveman's jealousy of Terra and Koles new friendship was childish, much like his competitions with Cyborg when they met. "Gnaark. Gnaark Gnaark?"

"No, I don't like her more than you," Kole said in a voice that suggested they'd discussed this before. "She's just a friend, you're my best friend."

"Gnaark."

"I promise to fight with you next time. Only you."

The caveman smiled.

"So," Kole asked in a sarcastic tone, "can I talk to her now?"

"There's nothing to talk about," Terra pulled her knees to her chest, "you were there, you know what's wrong."

Kole's smiled faded as she remembers Cinderblock charging with the arm of a back-hoe as a weapon right for Hotspot, who'd had his back turned. Terra, in an act of desperation, and knowing the nearest rock was thirty feet too far to make it in time, reached out with her powers. She found a grasp on Cinderblock's body, and acting on instict alone seperated the main joints. The monster fell howling so loudly that the entire battlefield, including: Nightwing, Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Chanson, Syren, Hotspot, Teether, Melvin, Timmy, Jinx, Kid Flash, Kole, Gnaark, Overload, Plasmus, about fifty Terminators, and what was later found to be a robotic clone of Slade all turned to see what was happening. Terra frantically began to try and reconnect the living stone, but found that too much life force had left Cinderblock already for her actions to have any effect... "That's nothing to be ashamed of, Hotspot would have died if you hadn't."

Terra's rage at her killing someone being called 'nothing to be ashamed of' resulted in her smacking Kole right off the couch. She instantly apologized.

"Ow..." Kole looked up hurt and confused, "why did you hit me?"

Gnaark pushed Terra back and stood between them.

"I-I didn't mean it. It just happened."

"That's not okay!" Melvin suddenly scolded Terra from behind, "you can't hit the good guys!"

"Terra..." Starfire's face said that she understood, despite her disapproval.

"You shouldn't hit your friends!" Timmy stood next to Gnaark

"BAD!" Teether yelled.

"I SAID I'M SORRY!" Terra bellowed at the kids, startling Teether enough to make him cry. Her eyes filled with the sorrow her heart felt, "You guys just won't understand the pain I feel until you experience it yourself."

"Pain?" Melvin began looking for blood or a bruise, "did you hurt yourself?"

Terra turned towards the door and left without responding.

Starfire looked around trying to find something to break the tension left in the air. Spotting something that she was planning on saving for later, she grasped a bowl of candy. "Tell me! Who would like a treat?"

"CANDY!" all three kids had a glimmer in their eye as they leapt for the bowl.

Syren and Chanson both felt beaten and bruised. even combined they just couldn't beat Nightwing, he was too quick, too cunning and too ruthless. "I can't wait for tonight," Chanson was cheery despite her pained body.

"I know," Syren smiled, "It's been so long, i'm kinda jittery."

Chanson hugged Syren, "thank you so much"

"OW! that hurts!" Syren shook herself out when she was released. "Damn it... You're welcome. I'm gonna shower, see if i can't relax some of this out."

Looking up a few flights when she heard footsteps, Chanson spotted Terra. "Yeah, I'm gonna get some fresh air then do the same. See you later." Following the distraught blonde to the roof, she knew what was on her mind before she even reached down her shirt for the flask. Terra tilted her head back and took a strong swig. "Again Terra?" this was the second time she'd caught her.

Turning, Terra spilt some of the amber liquid onto the roof. Shame was in her eyes when she lifted the flask again, "we've talked about this."

Chanson walked over and ripped the flask right from Terra's lips. "This shit will be the end of you! Or somebody else!"

"It's the only thing that helps!"

Chanson sniffed it tentitively, "this really makes the pain go away?"

"Only a little. But it's enough to let me sleep."

Chanson tasted it, and began coughing. "How can you drink this?"

"It's an acquired taste," Terra admitted, sitting with her legs over the edge of the building. She looked out at Jump City.

"I've really come to like you in these weeks, I don't want you to get hurt." Chanson sat down, looking the other way. She coughed as she took another sip, "it really isn't very good."

"after all you've said," Terra chided, "now you're drinking it too?"

"You said it takes the edge off," Chanson said in a distant voice, "I miss him."

"You knew him for what? a week?"

"not even."

"how could you have gotten that attached?"

"I didn't love him if that's what you were saying. It's just, he was the first guy that was so honestly kind to me after... after my rape."

"I see," Terra took a swig, "so what, he was the first you trusted besides your sister?"

"exactly," Chanson held out her hand for the flask. This time she took a deep swig and forced herself not to cough. "He was like the reason i can talk to you and the other Titans." She took another hit before handing it back.

"You should take it easy," Terra warned, "this is kinda strong."

"Hmmm... Terra?"

Terra slipped the flask back into her sports-bra, "yeah?"

"What do you think of Syren?"

"She's pretty cool, I like her take charge attitude when we are fighting. And then she's pretty relaxed when we are at home."

"And what about me?" Chanson looked really serious as she analysed Terra's face.

"It's really nice to have somebody I can trust with a secret. And you are really cool in the way you try to protect everyone you can get to. It takes guts to fight for what you believe in, but the way you do it makes us all look like cowards."

"You can trust me... Terra can I trust you with something?"

"Sure."

"Promise not to get mad no matter what?"

"I promise."

"Really?" Chanson seemed nervous, "No matter what?"

"I promised, didn-" Terra was cut off by Chanson's lips pressing againt her own. The beginning effects of the alcohol flew from her mind as the shock brought her back to absolute soberiety.

After several seconds, Chanson sensed the shock of the blonde she was kissing. Her black hair whipped as she quickly pulled away, "I'm sorry! I couldn't hold back anymore!"

Terra still hadn't looked away from the spot she'd been looking at right before the kiss. The shock hadn't yet left her voice when she said, "no, its okay. I just wasn't expecting it."

"You aren't mad?"

"well, I'd have prefered some warning so I could've said no."

"I knew it," Chanson laid back onto the roof, defeated. "You're the first person I've ever fallen for. I knew I'd mess it up somehow."

"A girl your age has never had a crush on anyone else?" Terra was kinda honored that she was someone's first love, even if it was another girl.

"I've never felt anything more than just physical attraction to anyone else. But you; you're really pretty, you're smart, you're a great fighter, and a good friend..."

Terra didn't know how to respond, she'd never had to deal with the feelings of another girl. She'd shot down several boys during her time in school, but she'd never been approached about a same-sex relationship.

"But," tears gathered at the edges of the ex-pop-idol's eyes, "I must really be worthless if my first love fails before it begins."

"You know, we have something in common. Even though it's somthing neither of us really wanna talk about."

"What?"

"Although this was both of our first kisses... We've both already gone beyond that."

"You were raped too?" Chanson sat up

"That depends on how you look at it."

"What do you mean?"

Terra tilted her head back and looked at the stars, "it was such a confusing time for me," she sighed, with regret in her eyes. "He took me in, and it was easy for him to gain mental dominance over me. One night on a whim, he told me what would happen, and I allowed it. There was no love, not even kindess... It was purely physical... and not a minute goes by without me hating myself for allowing that."

"So, we are alike."

"Now that I think about it," Terra sighed as she laid against the roof, "I might not mind having a girlfriend. But the thing is, I'd have to like you that way before I could even try."

The sound of a throat clearing caused them both to turn to see Jinx, "I don't think you understand what that kind of relationship means," she put her hands on her hips as if scolding a child, "There are alot of people who openly disapprove of that kind of thing. I for one, don't approve, but I'm not the kind of girl that would get in the way. But there are alot of people that WOULD try to break you up, or worse, they could try to hurt you."

"I know that!" Chanson stood and stood defiantly, "but I feel the way my heart tells me to! Nobody else can tell me how to feel! And I like Terra that way!"

Jinx held her hands up in something between a shrug and a defensive motion, "don't get mad at me, I just said that I don't like it. It feels like bad luck to me," she turned and walked through the door, speaking loud enough that the girls on the roof could hear the echo, "and I know bad luck better than anyone."

"Her words won't change how I feel," Chanson informed Terra.

"You aren't afraid of what the world might think?"

"I'd protect you if they'd try to hurt you."

Terra smiled, "Talk like that will help you win a girl's heart."

"Maybe Kid Flash is rubbing off on me."

(A/N: Terra's experience was antoher comic reference... yes it happened, yes she's 15 and yes he would have been in his early 40's [FYI, Jericho was one of his kids, wtf i know]... but it's legitimate... unlike my version however, the comic had it completely consentual as i remember... BTW, Terra was a psychopatic freak in the comics.)


End file.
